


Teatime Talks

by MagicBiscuit



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Aromantic Ferdinand, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 16:15:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20877056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicBiscuit/pseuds/MagicBiscuit
Summary: In which Ferdinand talks about a problem while Lorenz listens.





	Teatime Talks

Ferdinand had never considered himself particularly strange.

He was a proud nobleman with quite a few hobbies, ranging from weapon collecting, horse riding, singing and even more still! Despite the extraordinary future that surely awaited him Ferdinand was quite ordinary. At least he considered himself as such.

It seemed other didn't quite agree.

Ferdinand was used to being called annoying, a nuisance as well as a stuck-up snob. While this bothered him it was also something that happened on quite a regular basis so it had become somewhat normal for him to hear.

Lately, however, the words he was used to hearing had changed. Now it was things like “creepy” and "cold-hearted” that had become the new norm.

That hurt.

He always strived to behave in a manner befitting someone of his noble status. He could see why some people might call him the things that they did. Ferdinand always saw that as a reason to try his best to improve himself. The newest insults, however, had him at a loss.

It wasn't like there had been any drastic changes that would colour his character differently. He'd carried on like he always had yet suddenly some people had started to look at him like they feared him.

He just couldn't understand why.

That was why he was here, waiting in his bedroom for a friend to arrive. He needed advise, a new set of eyes that could help him figure out this strange problem he had. He was starting to lose sleep. He kept thinking and thinking. He’d found no answers, yet he kept at it. He couldn’t improve if he didn’t know how he’d wronged in the first place.

There was a soft knock on his bedroom door and Ferdinand practically leapt to his feet to open it.

Lorenz smiled at him as the door opened. He was carrying both tea as well as snacks with him.

Ferdinand sighed with relief. "I'm so glad you're here Lorenz," he said, "please come on in."

With a chuckle Lorenz walked past Ferdinand and Ferdinand closed the door. "It was no problem," Lorenz said, "I must admit your hastily written letter worried me quite a bit."

Ferdinand chuckled sheepishly as Lorenz made his way to the back of the room were Ferdinand's tea-set was. Lorenz carried on. "Well, no matter. Now sit down and relax while I prepare the tea. I had a feeling it was much needed"

With another sigh Ferdinand sat down on his bed while softly expressing his gratitude. Lorenz had this uncanny ability to know exactly what Ferdinand needed and when. He was glad for it though, as it lessened the need for words.

Lorenz pushed a warm teacup into Ferdinand's hands as well as a muffin before sitting down by Ferdinand's desk with his own tea. While Ferdinand was loathe to admit it his bedroom was far from the ideal place to have a cup of tea, with only his bed and the one chair by his desk to sit on, but Lorenz didn't seem to mind.

"Now," Lorenz said as he regarded Ferdinand warmly, "whatever is gnawing at you so?"

Ferdinand averted his gaze and looked down on his wavy reflection on the tea’s surface instead. The image of other students no different from himself looking at him like he was some sort of monster in the making would not leave him.

Ferdinand clicked his tongue as he prepared to speak. It was such a simple question, yet Ferdinand found himself hesitating. He took a sip of his tea in an effort to calm himself. Finally he found he could push out the words.

"Lorenz, am I creepy?"

He looked up at his friend. Lorenz's purple eyes were wide with shock. He'd put the teacup down on the desk. "You?" he reaffirmed, "An upstanding noble such as yourself? Creepy?" He scoffed. "Perish the thought! Whatever has planted that outlandish idea into your lovely head?"

Ferdinand tried to chuckle, but it died out quickly. "It just one of the words I've heard been used to describe me more and more as of late." he said quietly. It hurt so much more than he wished it did.

Lorenz sighed and shook his head. "If people want to blabber let them. It's all beneath you."

While tearing off a piece of his muffin Ferdinand spoke. "I know I shouldn’t let their words get to me, but they do. I just don't understand what I'm doing differently. “He ate the muffin piece. “How have I earned their sudden ire?” The rest of the muffin disappeared into his mouth.

Lorenz looked thoughtful. While tapping his chin with his index finger he spoke. "Perhaps it is something old rather than something new?" he suggested, "Have you shared any new facts about yourself recently?"

Ferdinand swallowed his muffin and shrugged. "I don't think I have?" he said, "at least I do not think it was anything incredibly noteworthy if I did."

"Maybe it wasn't to you, but it was for them?" Lorenz continued, "Have anyone reacted strangely to anything you have said?"

Ferdinand frowned deeply as he thought it over. He'd spoken too many during his time at the academy. Manuela didn't say anything strange about his poetry. He spoke about battle tactics and weapons with Caspar and Linhardt and neither one of them had treated him any differently from what they normally did. When he spoke about horses to Prince Dimitri, Ingrid and Marianne none of them had looked at him funny. The Prince had called him cute, but Lorenz and Petra had done that as well so that was nothing new, however nice that might be.

Then one incident came to mind.

His eyes or expression must've changed because Lorenz spoke again. "What is it?" he asked, "What did you remember?"

Ferdinand huffed. "It seems weird, but I can think of nothing else. It was a strange incident in the library." After thinking about it more he added, "Dorothea was there."

"A strange incident?" Lorenz inquired, "What happened?"

Ferdinand nodded as he began to tell Lorenz about that very odd event.

It had been a slow day. Ferdinand had been looking over some books in the library when he'd overheard Dorothea and some other girls talking. Not that it bothered him. He was good at ignoring sounds when he wanted to read. He had to admit he was intrigued though.

The conversation was interesting to him. He found himself listening in on them. They were giggling as they spoke of things Ferdinand could only assume was a code of some kind. They most certainly weren't talking about actually crushing people! At least he hoped they weren't.

Suddenly the chatter had died out. He could feel all the eyes on him. It was unsettling.

"Eavesdropping are we?"

Ferdinand's face flushed as Dorothea spoke. "I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed as he realised what he’d done, "That was unspeakably rude of me! I will take my book and-"

He'd been surprised when one of the girls stopped him. None of them looked all that upset, actually. Some of them were even smiling! That did put him slightly at ease. They all gathered around him.

"Actually, Ferdinand," one of the girls began, "since you were listening in on us then you might as well join our little chat." All the others expect Dorothea murmured their agreement.

Ferdinand blinked. "What do you mean?"

One of them shrugged. "Think of it as your apology! So who's your crush?"

Ferdinand felt even more lost as all the girls looked at him intently while waiting to hear his answer. He had no problem serving up a token of apology, but this time he had to admit he was confused.

"My what?"

The girls gave him strange looks. "Your crush," Dorothea said as if it would give him some sort of clue. While giving her companions a sideways glance she added; "if you don't have one right now you can always tell us about an old one."

Ferdinand shook his head. "What are you talking about?" he asked. A surprisingly lonely feeling was beginning to take a hold of him. He genuinely didn't understand what they wanted and it was making him feel stupid.

Dorothea at least seemed to understand somewhat as she reworded her question. "They mean 'who do you have feelings for' Ferdie," she said gently, "romantic feelings that is."

"Oh" Ferdinand was admittedly still confused, but at least he could answer their question now.

"No one."

All the women in the room looked at him strangely.

"Aren't you 18?" one of the girls asked. The entire flock looked shocked. Ferdinand had just shrugged. "I guess I haven't found 'the one' yet. Not that it matters since I would probably just marry for political reasons."

Ferdinand sighed at the memory. "You should've seen the reactions Lorenz." He said. "They started calling me 'sad' when I really wasn’t." He frowned. “I don’t understand what was so sad about it to be completely honest.”

Lorenz, who had been quietly listening until now, frowned as well. "Did something happen afterwards?" he asked. Ferdinand nodded. “They asked me the strangest question” he said.

Lorenz raised an eyebrow. “What sort of question?”

An awkward silence fell over the two of them for a bit. Ferdinand was still so incredibly confused from the entire event. “They wanted me to imagine my ‘ideal partner’.” He said very quietly. It was a strangely uncomfortable memory.” Things like how’d she would look and so forth.”

Lorenz looked surprised. "That’s incredibly forward" he said, “What did you tell them?”

Ferdinand turned his attention towards the ceiling. The image had been just as blurry then as it was now. The woman had a face, but at the same time she didn't. She was average size as well as weight. He could've gotten just as many details from a stick figure. That description seemed to have bothered them, but not as much as what he had told them afterwards did.

"It felt wrong." The words dropped out of Ferdinand’s mouth.

"What do you mean?" Despite his words Lorenz had a very knowing look in his eyes.

"Me being, well, you know, the loving husband to this imaginary woman." Ferdinand sighed and flopped down on his bed. "I told them that, too, but all except Dorothea had looked frightened by what I said. Dorothea actually started telling the other girls to leave me be."

Lorenz got up from the wooden chair and suddenly he was sitting on the bed right beside Ferdinand. As the weight shifted Ferdinand closed his eyes. "I'm I creepy Lorenz?" he asked, "did I do something wrong?"

"No Ferdinand you didn't" He heard Lorenz say. He spoke without even a hint of hesitation. "You're just you. I personally count that as a blessing."

Ferdinand laughed lightly. He still didn't understand what he’d done wrong, but he felt better talking to Lorenz. He was so confident that Ferdinand couldn't help believing him. It was such a relief to get it all off his chest. With that relief the sleep that had eluded Ferdinand until that point came back at him with full force. He felt the weight shift on the bed once more as Lorenz got back up again. "I shall go speak to Miss Dorothea," Ferdinand heard him say although his voice seemed far away. "You just get some rest."

Ferdinand could only mumble his gratitude. He wasn't even sure the noises that came out of his mouth could be considered understandable human speech.

He heard the sound of a door opening and someone spoke, but he was too tired at this point to decipher who it was.

"Just be yourself Ferdinand. Those who cannot accept you should not and do not matter."

It was with those words hanging in the air that Ferdinand finally fell asleep.


End file.
